Travel Destinations: Cameron HighlandsButterfly Farms and Gardens

There are several butterfly farms located around Cameron Highlands. However, the two most easily accessed sights are the Butterfly Farm and Butterfly Garden. Both are just a short walking distance from each other. Talk about competition having the attraction so close! Both are located a short distance from Kea Farm on the way down hill to Tringkap. Both are about the same so just choose one would do.

Entering the enclosure, one can experience having a rabble of butterflies fluttering all around you. If you smell right, they might just want to cling to your shirt! So don't feel squeamish if a butterfly decides you are the perfect place to hang around!

Of all the species, the Raja Brooke butterfly (Troides brookiana) with its black and shimmering teeth-shaped electric-green markings on its wings is the most famous. This butterfly was named by the naturalist Alfred R. Wallace in 1855, naming it for Sir James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak. It is considered rare and therefore protected by the endangered species act.

The Raja Brooke butterfly is considered the national butterfly of Malaysia. It belongs to the Papillonidae butterfly family. Papilionidae are a family of butterflies that contains swallowtail and birdwing butterflies. They are strong fliers with three fully developed pairs of legs. Many swallowtails have distinctive tailed wings (hence the family name). Eggs laid are spherical in shape. These types of butterflies are found from the tropics to the more temperate regions.

The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) has been pretty active to preserve the habitats of rare species of animals and plants. They had started a conservative park in Ulu Geroh, Perak working with the Semai tribe Orang Asli training them as guides using the Rafflesia and Raja Brooke Birdwing Butterflies as tourists' attraction in that area.

Although you could buy Raja Brooke butterfly from the souvenir shop, you could not take it out of the country because of the law prohibiting the export of endangered species. You could of course settle with other beautiful butterflies though. So after your visit to the butterfly center, pop on in to the souvenir shop and have look around and see if you might want to take back some framed preserved butterfly for display in your house.

Butterfly parks are a very popular place to visit and one can found them just about anywhere in Malaysia. So if you do miss the chance to visit them in Cameron Highlands, you could also drop by one located in Lake Gardens Kuala Lumpur, or the Penang Butterfly Farm located at Batu Ferringhi, or even in Melaka. But the air would not be as refreshing as that in Cameron Highlands!

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